Telling the Truth for Women

Jill Briscoe: When Michelangelo took a hammer and a chisel and began work on a huge piece of marble, he already knew what he had in mind. In his mind, David, his sculpture of David was finished. It was finished before he began.

Then he took his implements and he began chip, chip, chip, chip, chipping away until one day David, the head and shoulders, and the whole body of David was formed out of this piece of marble. Actually, the piece of marble was marred to begin with. It was a piece of marble somebody else had been chipping away. And the great artist took it and saw David, his head, his picture of David in that piece of marble.

Now, that's in a sense, a great picture of God. God looks down into our lives, and he already sees what is yet to be. In fact, the Book of Jeremiah in chapter 1 says, "Before we were formed in the womb, he already saw David, as it were, finished, finished."

So, before we were, we to now, he decided what we would be finished. And then we were born and grew up and lived our life, our one life that we are given to live here on Earth. And he uses the chisel of circumstances and the hammer of happenstance. And he begins to chip, chip, chip, chip, chip away.

All sorts of things are used in the hand of the Master to chisel the David out of us. Now, the Bible teaches that God wants to see Christ in us, to form Christ in us. And as it were, we're like that piece of marble, but he already sees us complete like Jesus.

How does he chisel the David out of us? How does he take the hammer and the chisel? Well, sometimes he uses the hammer of marriage, or the hammer of ministry, or the hammer of sorrows, or the chisel of disappointment, or of people. He is intent on making us like Christ. That's what he has in mind before we're even formed in our mother's womb. In fact, he said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

Before Jeremiah was born, he saw Jeremiah finished. But it would take the hammer of hard times and the chisel of rejection and trouble and crisis to chisel the Jeremiah out of him. The Jeremiah that God saw finished and complete and perfect before Jeremiah ever was.

And so, whom he calls, he chooses. And who he chooses, he chisels. That's what he has in mind for you and for me, for those people who know him, who love him, who have come into a relationship with him through Jesus Christ.

Now, I want to talk about Jeremiah today, and I want to talk about his companion, Baruch, because God uses people as a chisel more often than anything. And in the story of Jeremiah, God gives Jeremiah a companion. Someone to be with him, someone to work with him. You know, when Jesus was on Earth, God in the flesh, for God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, he chose some disciples. He chose some men. He chose a team to be with him. And then he began to work on them, and chisel them into Jesus Christ likeness.

And he used many different methods. At one point, he sent them out to preach and to teach. And he sent them out two by two. God has his ways, and he knows that we human beings need the encouragement of somebody else by our side. That's why marriage is such a blessing. Two are better than one, one of the ancient books in the Bible tells us. Two are better than one, because if one falls down, the other can lift him up. And if two lie down, one will keep the other warm. And if two are facing an enemy, then they're double strength.

So, two are better than one, the Bible says. Jesus sent the disciples out two by two. And here in the Old Testament, Jeremiah's got a very hard job to do. He's preaching his heart out, nobody's listening. In fact, every time he preaches, something awful happens to him. At one point, he got put in a pit up to his neck in mud. And they dropped stones on his head to finish him off just because they didn't like his sermon. Good job that doesn't happen today, I don't know how many people will be left preaching.

And so, here's this man terribly discouraged. And God says, "You need a companion. You need somebody with you." And so, he brings alongside a man called Baruch. Now, let me tell you a little bit about Baruch. Baruch came from a princely family. He was in king's households. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. All his friends were important people. In fact, if Baruch had stayed where he was, he might have been prime minister under the next king, King Zedekiah. As it was, one of his relatives was prime minister as it were under the king that was around when Jeremiah was doing his work.

And so, Baruch comes from high-born family, and he is educated in the best scribal schools. And he becomes a scribe. And the Bible tells us that he is a teacher, he is an excellent teacher. He's sort of a counterpart to Nicodemus in the New Testament. Nicodemus, if you remember, was *the* teacher of Israel. Baruch is *the* scribe of Israel. He's got a great reputation. He can use words, he is a wordsmith. He can take words and make them happen to other people as he wrote them on his scroll, and they read them and something happens to them when they read his words.

Well, Baruch became aware of Jeremiah because Jeremiah had been called of God at the age of 18 to warn the king and all the important people, like Baruch himself, that if they would repent, Nebuchadnezzar would stop knocking at the door of Jerusalem and wanting to besiege them and finish them off, and God would see to Nebuchadnezzar. But what had to happen was that the Children of Israel had to be sorry for what they were doing, which was everything God had told them not to do, and they had to repent.

And so, Jeremiah began to preach this message. And there's quite a famous sermon in Jeremiah 26. You can read it at your leisure. And this is a pivotal point. Jeremiah has been warning people and talking to the priests and saying, "Why don't you get back to your spiritual heritage and start and preach what God tells you instead of all this peace, peace when there is no peace, and tell it like it is?" And they didn't like it, of course. And so, they were giving Jeremiah a hard time. And he arrives at a feast day at the temple. And he says, "This is a perfect place to preach a really strong sermon." And God says to him just before he begins because he's looking at the crowd thinking, "What's going to happen to me if I really deliver the message he's been giving me?" God says, "You have to go to everybody I tell you to, and tell them everything I've told you to. Do not omit a word."

Now, God has already told him that in chapter 1 when he began his ministry. Now, he's on a little bit, maybe 18, 20 years into his ministry. And he's still struggling with fear. "If I preach like this, what are they going to do to me?" And God reminds him of his call in chapter 1, right at the beginning of his life. "I will send you to everybody that I want you to go to and you will tell them everything I've told you to tell them." So, again, he repeats that word. "You will go to everybody I tell you to, you will say everything I've told you to. Do not omit a word."

When you want to find out what a word means in the scriptures, find it somewhere else. That's why a good reference Bible is really good. References are like little signposts, and they point you to another part of Scripture. The Scripture is its own best interpreter. And in that other place, you might get an idea of what the word means. So, when I came across the word in chapter 26, "go to these people and tell them and do not omit a word," I thought, "Now, what does that word mean? Is it a strong word?" And so, I found a little reference where "omit" is used. And it was in the Book of Isaiah. And in the Book of Isaiah, it is used when it's describing cutting off a beard. I thought, "Well, that's a weird word. Do not cut off a beard." Is that what God said? No. What God said is, "Do not shave my message. Don't cut off the little bits that are really difficult to talk about." And don't we all do that? I know I do. I'm tempted when I really get down to it to back off. "Maybe they'll be offended. Maybe they won't like it. Maybe they'll put me in a pit and drop stones on my head." Well, hopefully that won't happen here in this country. But you just back off when what you're trying to say might offend.

I remember not too long ago I was sitting on a plane next to a man, and I was trying to explain the Christian Gospel to him. I was getting along quite well and he was quite interested. And a little voice inside me said, "Well, when are you going to tell him the whole story?" Because I was really just telling him how great it was to be a Christian, how wonderful the Bible was, and how God answered your prayers, and would he be interested in this sort of discussion. And all the time, I kept hearing God's still small voice say, "Do not omit a word, you're shaving off the message, the hard stuff, the tough stuff. Tell him he's lost." "Oh, well, I don't think I can do that, Lord. That would really put him off and offend him. And then he wouldn't listen to me anymore." "Find a way to tell him he's lost, Jill. Do not omit any of my message."

And I found myself shaving off that piece of the message because I was afraid of his reaction. When I eventually got round to the tough stuff, and stumblingly told him the whole message, "There is one way to Heaven and that's through Christ," not a way. There is one truth about God, and that's the truth Jesus came to tell us, not many truths. And there's one way and one life, one eternal life. And he's, he is eternal life. If you want eternal life, you have to have the life of the eternal one. You have to receive the spirit. When I got round to the tough stuff, and I actually said, "And if you don't, you'll be lost." An amazing thing happened. He was interested. He was more interested than when I was just telling him the good stuff and omitting a word.

And so, Jeremiah is standing in the courtyard and the feast day is on and everybody's coming. And it's a perfect time to preach a little bit and tell them what God has been telling him and the warnings that God has been giving him to give them. And he starts to get scared. And so, God comes again and says, "Go on, Jeremiah, don't omit a word." And he does, he preaches his heart out. And the sky falls in on his head. And they arrest him. And they try him right there on the spot where he's preached his sermon. And they decide he should die.

Well, somebody comes to his rescue. Who is the person that comes to his rescue? Well, some of the leaders. Who are the leaders? Baruch's relatives. And Baruch is there that day. He's there that day because he left the palace. He joined Jeremiah. And for 20 years, he has been writing down on a scroll the words that God has given from Heaven for Earth to Jeremiah. And these two have been working together. The prophet, who is younger than the scribe, who's a nobody man, who hasn't done any formal training, and the scribe, who is exquisitely educated, and incredibly good with what he does, and acclaimed to be *the* scribe of Israel. And together they are putting down the words of God on the scroll.

Now, as I think about God's choice of these two, I have to smile. Baruch's name means happy, blessed. Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. And so, if you like, God took a weepy and put him with a happy. And said, "Here's my work, do it. And do it together. Do it together. You are a team. You're my men and you're going to be partners." You know, I found God has a real strange sense of humor. For both in marriage and ministry, God does this all the time. Opposites attract in marriage. And then you get married and then opposites begin to irritate, perhaps. You get a weepy and a happy. And God says, "Marry each other, and just live happily ever after." And it's all right until you get married and you meet those differences over the breakfast table. But those things that attracted you before begin to irritate you after. Have you noticed that?

It was the same in ministry for Jeremiah and Baruch, and it's the same today. Why do you think we have all troubles in the church? Because we have committees. And somebody chooses who comes on these committees. And we find ourselves perhaps working with a partner. And maybe we're a happy and they're a weepy. And it's very difficult. And we're going to talk a little bit about what happened when Baruch was sorry he ever joined Jeremiah and wanted out.

But before that, let me suggest some ways that we can get along with people who are not like us, who are very different from us. Because so often God's work can literally grind to a halt because you've got personality conflicts. And if it's bad here at home, and it is bad here at home, it's twice as bad on the mission field because you get people there in an isolated stressful situation, and they have a partner that's chosen for them by somebody back home in the States, and they arrive and they're a happy and you're a weepy, or you're a weepy and they're a happy. And you're shut up together in stressful situations, often crisis situations, looking at things very differently, reacting and responding to things very differently. And that can bring missionaries home from the mission field. That can split a church.

Three things about working with someone who's very different from you. First of all, find a common ground. Find the common ground. What was the common ground that Jeremiah and Baruch had as they sought to do the work that God had put in their hands? The common ground was their calling. Probably that's all they had in common. Their calling. God had called them. "My plan in your life," he'd said to both of them. "My work in your hand," he'd said to both of them. "My words in your mouth, on your scroll," he'd said to both of them. They had that in common. Maybe that was the only thing they had in common. But if you're working in a church situation, if you're working with another Christian who's driving you crazy, remember you have your common calling in common, and that's enough.

So, revisit your common calling. This person is just as called as you, just as chosen as you. God is chiseling them just like he's chiseling you, and he's probably using you to chisel them and them to chisel you. But together, together, God has you in mind as a team to do his work. And if you're being irritated by things that are irritating to you, say, "At least we have this in common, we both love God. We both serve the Lord. And we both want to do his work to his glory and his honor. We both want to see the kingdom come." Remember the common ground that you have, and concentrate on that when things get tough.

And then, secondly, what you need to do, remember the common ground. And then, secondly, celebrate the differences. Celebrate the differences. Now, what do I mean by this? Find something to be glad about in the differences. Let me use our marriage as an example. Stewart and I are very different. He's happy and I'm weepy. That's probably obvious, those of you that know us both and listen to us both teach and preach. I'm the sort of somber nature, and he's the happy nature. And God, with his sense of humor, puts us together in marriage and says, "Now, just do it and do it together."

And we've had our moments of trying to put this together in ministry and in our marriage. I remember on one occasion getting to a meeting and looking at the program and both of us were speaking. We'd both been invited to speak at this convention. One after the other. He had an hour's teaching and I had an hour's teaching. And I looked at the program and I said, "Oh, Stewart, they've made a terrible mistake. Look at this. We're both to speak on John chapter 11." So, I said, "You find it easier to choose than me. So why don't you just change your subject because I find that really difficult to do and you don't find it hard at all. And you preach on something else and I'll do chapter 11 because the mistake is made." And he picks it up and looks and says, "No, Jill, I think they really wanted us to both attend to the chapter. That's the chapter they want us to both speak on." I said, "But we can't do that. We can't both." And I panicked, I totally panicked. And he just calmly said, "Jill, we will speak on John 11 because that's what they've invited us to do. And they'll never know." I said, "They'll what?" He said, "They'll never know." And they never did.

Why did they never know? Well, those of you that know John chapter 11, know that it's the story of Lazarus who died and Jesus raised up from the dead. "Lazarus, come forth," he said, to a dead man, who'd been dead three days. And Lazarus came forth. In the same chapter is Jesus comes to the grave to raise Lazarus from the dead. It says that he was moved in his spirit. And he wept. And so, Stewart and I attended to this thing that we'd been asked to do, that I thought was a mistake, and it wasn't a mistake at all. And they never did know that we were attending to it from the same chapter because Stewart, being happy, came out with his text, "Lazarus, come forth!" And here he was, being all positive and wonderful and and laboring in the second half of the chapter about what happened after Lazarus was raised from the dead. And guess which verse I used? That's right. Jesus wept. Because I'm weepy. I'm weepy. And funnily enough, we complimented each other. God knows what he's doing.

And so, that day I celebrated a difference. And I said, "God, how wonderful. You made him so happy." Usually, it irritates me when I'm so somber, but I'm so glad and I celebrate that difference. It worked perfectly. And he even celebrated the difference in my more somber character, as I brought out other aspects that he never would have brought out. And so, God knows what he's doing. He's done it in our marriage, he's done it in our ministry. And he did it for Jeremiah and Baruch, because I have not a doubt that they irritated each other. When you get two people who are so different and their personalities come through, then you know it was hard. And they were beleaguered, there were only two of them. They were up against the wall most of their lives. Baruch's relatives never stopped, I have no doubt, saying, "What are you doing? You've thrown away your career. You've left the palace and the family. You're mad! And you know what everybody thinks of Jeremiah, that he's he's he's wild, he's crazy. What are you doing writing his book for him?" Because you see, Baruch could have written his own bestseller, but he didn't. He wrote another man's book. And he took second place and became his servant for one reason only. God called him to that.

You know, it matters more than tongue can tell to play the second fiddle well. Especially if you've first fiddle gifts. And God sometimes is more intent on what that does to us than what we do for other people. It's the chisel. He uses the chisel of circumstances. He uses the chisel of other people to chisel the David out of us, to make us like Christ. No doubt that happened with Jeremiah and Baruch.

So, you find the common ground. You celebrate the differences. You find something to be glad about. If you're weepy, then laugh at one of Baruch's jokes. It won't kill you, even if you don't think they're funny. Celebrate a difference. And if you're Baruch, and you're happy, just read one of Jeremiah's laments and enjoy another mood. I had a woman come up to me not too long ago and she said, "I've lost my joy, I've lost my joy. I've got to get my joy back. Help me to get my joy back." And I said, "Well, why don't you just enjoy another mood?" She didn't like that because she felt as a Christian she had to be up, up, up, up, up, happy, happy, happy, happy, clappy all the time. And sometimes it doesn't do you any harm to enjoy another mood, to be somber, to be sober, to be a little down. Music's great. Music in major key, music in minor key. But who says music in minor key isn't beautiful? And so, we learn to celebrate the differences. So, we learn all of these things, and we learn to understand the why, number three. Learn to understand the why, W-H-Y.

What do I mean by that? Well, what I mean by that is, why was weepy weepy and why was happy happy? If weepy could understand why happy was so happy all the time, and happy could understand why weepy was so weepy all the time, that would help them to work together. Maybe Jeremiah was of somber personality because of what happened to him, because of the family he came from, a priestly family who turned against him and tried to kill him, betray him. His own family in the end. Well, that would do something to you. Make me weep. And maybe happy was happy, Baruch was happy because he'd been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. And he'd had a wonderful life. And he'd had all the advantages of life, and that had made a difference in his personality, in his character. And if you can understand the why, it helps you not only to live with somebody that's a little difficult, who's finding you a little difficult, but it helps you to put it together if you understand the why.

So, what we do with people that are very different from ourselves, hopefully, is to understand the why. What's behind it? The heart has its reasons that reason knows not of. Famous quote. Well, what happened then? What happened to Baruch and Jeremiah? Did they do their work? Did they ever fall out? Did Baruch ever go back to the palace? Actually, no. Baruch didn't go back to the palace. He is still with Jeremiah at the end of his life. But there did come a moment that was the defining moment for this man, this scribe, this amanuensis, this writer of Jeremiah's book. And it happens in Jeremiah chapter 45.

I want to read it to you because God sent Baruch a message. He sent him a message when he looked into his heart and saw him wavering. "I should never have come with this man," he was saying. "I could have written my own bestseller, had an incredible career. I could have been acclaimed. I could have been safer. I needn't have given myself this grief. I've wasted my life." And God looked right down in his heart and he said to Jeremiah, "Go and give Baruch a message from me." And this was the message. "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch. You said, 'Woe to me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I'm worn out with groaning and find no rest.' The Lord said, 'Say this to him. This is what the Lord says. I will overthrow what I've built and uproot what I've planted throughout the land. Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. Seek them not. I will bring disaster on all the people. But wherever you go, I will let you escape with your life.'"

Now, what's happening here? This is a whole chapter just for Baruch. Do you ever have a dream? Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a whole chapter in the Bible just about me? Well, maybe it would be if it wasn't like this chapter. This chapter is not very complimentary to Baruch, and it's all about him. The whole chapter. And God says, "Baruch, when are you going to get around to feeling more sorry for me than you are for yourself? You have become so self-absorbed. All you're thinking about is my life, my reputation, my job, my position, et cetera, et cetera. What about my heart? What about my dreams? I took Israel and called them to myself. Israel's like my bride. And she's about to be raped and destroyed. I'm going to uproot what I've planted." He'd planted Israel in Canaan, he'd cared for them, he'd brought them out of Egypt and looked after them in the desert for 40 years. He'd done wonders and miracles for them. And now Israel had turned her back on her heavenly husband, on God. Committed adultery, spiritual adultery with other gods. And even though God had tried to woo her back and win her back and promise her forgiveness if she came back to him, she wasn't having any of it. And so, God allowed what was going to happen to happen.

And he says to Baruch, "What about my heart? My heart's broken. My heart's broken. And when you get around to being more sorry about my heart and my plans and my kingdom, instead of your little empire and your heart and your plans and your kingdom, then you and I are going to get some work done in this world." And he looked into Baruch's heart and he saw pride. And he will not have it. If we're intent on building our little reputation, if we're intent on building our kingdom, if we're intent on making ourselves the greatest Christian speaker or whatever, or the greatest soloist in the choir, or the greatest Sunday school teacher, it doesn't really matter. God looks into our heart and he says, "No, I will not have it. I will not have it."

And so, Baruch listened. He listened. How do we know he listened? Because he wrote the chapter in the book. He wrote the chapter in the book. What an incredible thing. He didn't need to put it in. He wrote the Book of Jeremiah. These are Baruch's words. Jeremiah dictated to him. That's what it says here. He dictated these words, and he did not need to have 45 in here. He could have gone from 44 to 46. But he didn't. He humbled himself. And I believe he repented, not only because he's still with Jeremiah at the end of his life, but because this chapter is in this book.

So, here's two men with their backs against the wall, but they have faith enough to finish. They're willing to keep their lives connected with God. Like a tree planted by the river, they've got their roots in the river, their lives are full of fruit, their leaves are for the healing of the nations. They're drawing on the resources and power of God to do his work and do his will in this world. And God is using them. Oh, they never see anybody respond. They never did. But they know in their heart, "I'm doing what God tells me to do," and that's all that matters. And one day I'll see him face to face and he'll say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

So, we have Jeremiah and Baruch. So, we have Baruch and Jeremiah. Let me pause for a minute and ask you a question. Are you struggling with somebody in a marriage or in ministry? Is it just because you're different? I'm talking about differences, not habits or characteristics that are evil and wrong that need to be changed and addressed. But what is the problem? Why is the hostility and difficulty between you as you try to live together or work together or be together in church? Can you celebrate the differences? Find something to be glad about in that other person who's irritating you to death. And can you understand the why? And can you find the common ground, which is your calling, your plan in your life, his work in your hand, his words in your mouth? Those are the things you have in common with the people that you feel you have nothing in common. And God will look after the rest.

I can imagine Baruch feeling absolutely humiliated. Here he was wanting Jeremiah's job. "I could do it better than him. I'm the trained person, I'm the educated person." And this pride coming up in his heart. "Why did I ever join the fellow? Why don't I leave him now and go back? Maybe there's still something I can salvage out of my career." And God tells on him. He tells Jeremiah of all people what's going on inside him, inside his heart. I think we forget that God sees what's going on inside our heart, don't we? But he does. Maybe other people don't. I'm sure Jeremiah was totally unaware of it until God let him in on the secret. But God always sees what's going on in our hearts. And if we can learn to keep short accounts with him, if we can learn not to let those sort of things, that garbage, build up in our lives, wrong attitudes, pride, self-aggrandizement, building our own little Christian empire, wanting people to affirm us or thank us or any of those things. If we can let God deal with those things moment by moment and day by day, then we will not fall into the trap that Baruch fell into.

So, he gets over it. He even writes his testimony in verse 45 so that it can be a warning to you and me. And did they then live happily ever after? I'm sure they still had their differences, but that common calling held them and kept them together. Now, I want to take you to what I think is the most dramatic story in the whole story of the Book of Jeremiah about their work, about their partnership. And it happens in chapter 36. It's a very long chapter, and you can read it at your leisure, and so I'm going to walk you through it. I'm going to tell you the story. And for me, this is the pivotal test of these two men. At this point, we could have lost their work for humanity, for the world forever. You might not have a book of Jeremiah in your holy scriptures but for the test that they came through in this chapter.

Now, what happened? It was the fourth year of King Jehoiakim, who was reigning at the end of the period before Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city and took over Jerusalem. He was not listening to Jeremiah, he was not listening to anybody that was important or was saying anything of the truth. He was listening to his advisors who were all advising him wrong. He was listening to the false prophets and the false shepherds of Israel who were saying, "Peace, peace" when there was no peace. And he does not like Jeremiah one little bit. He has already tried to kill him and torture him to death, and it hasn't worked.

And so now, the time has come for the biggest and best message from that huge scroll of about 40 years of work to be presented to the people. And God says to Jeremiah, "It's time. Finish the work. This is all the messages I have, and I've given you over a period of 40 years, and your scribe has faithfully written them on these scrolls. Now it's time to go and tell the people." Because literally, siege was up against the siege ramps were up against the city. Nebuchadnezzar was hammering at the door. The people were starving within the city to death. And everybody was devastated. And some of them began to think, "Maybe Jeremiah was right. Is it too late?"

And so, a fast day was called, and the entire elders and the people, the leaders of the people and their families, gathered in the temple to fast and pray and ask, "Oh, God, if it's not too late, please get Nebuchadnezzar off our backs." They did not meet to repent. They met to fast and pray for deliverance without repentance. But you don't get deliverance without repentance. There is no blessing without surrender to God. And so, they still weren't where they needed to be. But it did mean that the whole temple was full of all the people. And Jeremiah says to Baruch, "I want you to go and read the scroll to the people. This is a perfect opportunity again."

"I'm restricted." Now, what did he mean by "I'm restricted?" He meant he was under house arrest. He couldn't go to the temple. They had guards on the house. He was under house arrest at that time. Baruch was not under house arrest, maybe because of the influence of his relatives. So, he had been coming to the house and working with Jeremiah to finish the scroll. Now, at this point, Baruch could have said, "You know, that's not my gift. I am the writer, I am the scribe, you're the preacher." But he didn't. He said, "Well, I'll go and I'll have a go. You can't go. I'll go." And he's a very brave man. To work outside the area of your gifting simply for the love of God and because a job has to do and be done is noting the caliber of this man. It's showing me what God is chiseling out of him, in sterling character.

And so, he takes the scroll and he goes to the temple. And he goes upstairs in the temple where there is a colonnade overlooking all the people down in the ground floor, on the ground floor of the temple. And he chooses a room of a friend in a high place. He remember, he's a prince. He knows all the people in high places. Some of the people in high places have rooms on this colonnade overlooking where all the people are gathered. And it's a perfect pulpit. It's a perfect place to stand and roll the scroll and begin to proclaim the word of the Lord.

So, he reads a little bit. And some of the leaders there, who are his friends, who are other princes, leaders, his family, his extended family, hears him. And they say, "This sounds terribly important. Maybe there's something we can still do that God has been telling you and we have been listening to." The other leaders need to hear this, and so they take the scroll around the colonnade to another door where all the leaders are, and they read a bit to them. And four of those brave men, four of the leaders of Israel say, "I think the king needs to hear this."

Now, at the moment, Nebuchadnezzar is battering with great big blocks of wood and all sorts of things at the gates trying to get in. It is absolutely crisis point. And so, Baruch says, "Well, leave the scroll in the room of the secretary because if you take it to the king, he might do something awful with it. Just go and tell him the message." And these four brave men, who have not taken a public stand alongside Jeremiah and Baruch, go to the king. Now, the king is sitting in the courtyard, and we're told it's cold. It's so cold, he's got a fire going. The fire is in front of him. And Jehudi takes the scroll for the king has demanded the scroll be brought from the secretary's room, and read it to him.

And so, Jehudi takes the scroll and begins to read it to the king. Listen to what happened. Whenever he read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe's knife and threw them into the firepot until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his attendants who heard all these words, showed no fear. Nor did they tear their clothes or repent. Even though these four brave men urged him, "Don't burn it, don't burn it, don't burn it!" He burnt it. Instead, the king commanded a son of the king to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them. When the Lord hides a man, he hides a man. And what had happened was those four brave men, the leaders, who decided to go and tell the king, said to Baruch, "Go and get Jeremiah and get out of there and hide yourself." And somehow they had escaped from surveillance and they were hidden. God had hidden them because the king was so mad and so furious, he wanted them arrested and killed.

And so, what happened? Forty years of work up in flames. Can you imagine? Well, somebody came and told Jeremiah and Baruch what had happened. And the word of the Lord came to him. And there's the word again. Happened to him with power and authority and dynamic. And what did God say? "Oh, you poor thing, I'm so sorry, 40 years of your work have gone up in flames. Now, just stay in hiding for the rest of your life." No, God didn't say that. Listen to what God said. "After the king had burned the scroll, containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 'Take another scroll and write on it all the words I've told you for 40 years. Do it again. Just do it again.'"

What an incredible thing. And then if you come right down to the bottom two verses, there's more incredible news. "So, Jeremiah took another scroll, and he gave it to the scribe Baruch, son of Neriah. And as Jeremiah dictated, he wrote on it all the words of the scroll that the king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many more words did he write." Add a little bit, says God. "Just do it again." And they did it. They did it again. They had faith enough to finish.

I think that's a pretty incredible story. And I wonder what it is that God is saying to you. Do it again. Is your marriage breaking up? Will you have another chance and go at getting it together again? Do it again. Have you resigned from a committee at church? Do it again. Do it again. God will give you grace and power moment by moment and day by day to do it again for great is his faithfulness. And I'll tell you something. As we finish the work God's given us to do, however difficult, however hard, as we persevere to the end, he will give us faith enough to finish. And he'll chisel us in the doing of it.

Let me read you a poem. It's called 'Chiseled' and it's what I tried to use with words to sum up all of this story of Jeremiah and Baruch.

Chiseled by the circumstances ministry arranges,

hammered by the things allowed that made such drastic changes,

in my life and fondest dreams I'd hoped to realize,

chiseled by my circumstance, I'm chiseled down to size.

Chiseled by the Word of God that happened to my heart,

shattered by the truth I know you want me to impart,

broken by the word of power that has first broken me,

driven by the force of God to speak and set it free.

Chiseled by the people that you bring into my life,

people who are difficult and cause me stress and strife.

Teach me, Lord, to honor them, and help me, Lord, to see,

they're not as near as awkward or as difficult as me.

Chiseled by my secret pride I choose not to confess,

sobered by your knowing that my life's so passionless.

Shaped by all my sad regrets that cause you so much grief,

chiseled by my secret sin and shallow unbelief.

Chiseled by my children's choices, chiseled by their pain,

feeling I can hardly breathe or ever smile again.

Daring not to glance at Heaven and see my Father frown,

but looking anyway to see compassion smiling down.

So, chisel on, Lord, till you see the likeness of your Son.

Blow by loving blow remake the image you've begun.

I only want to be like you and lie still in your hand.

So, craft this piece of marble, me, into the pattern planned.

Who he called, he chisels, into the likeness of his Son.

What is he using to chisel you?

Will you lie still in his hand and let him do it?

Dear God, hear our prayer, and let our cry come unto thee.

Amen.